Ogunnote, Davis senior speed merchants on D4/10 track

Rob Massey, Guelph Sports Journal

GUELPH – Centennial’s Olami Ogunnote and Von Davis of St. James captured victories in the senior 100 metres races to be crowned the king and queen of the speed events on the first day of the two-day District 4/10 high school track and field championship meet at the St. James facility.

A strong finish by Ogunnote gave him the win in a close senior boys’ 100m A final as all six competitors finished in a pack that was separated by just under half a second from the fastest to the slowest. Ogunnote won in 11.57 seconds.

“It was tight coming in. There’s a lot of faster runners,” Grade 11 student Ogunnote said. “There were Grade 12s ahead of me, but I thought I had a good run. I started really fast and I pushed it at the end. It was close, but I knew I had it.”

The strength of the field helped Ogunnote claim the victory.

“When you know you have a lot of fast runners beside you, it really just pushes you to go a lot harder and when you get that going, it’s a good feeling.”

Ogunnote, who’s been in Guelph for five years after his family moved here from Nigeria, via Ghana, considers his starts to be his strong point.

“I think you win the race when you start faster because others are playing catch-up,” he said. “You can just keep pushing.”

Ogunnote will advance to next week’s CWOSSA championship meet at Kincardine.

“I expect it to be tough,” he said. “I felt D10 itself was pretty tough and if I can keep working on my strengths and pushing out faster, I think I stand a good chance of making it through.”

While Ogunnote had a close race in his 100m final, Davis ran away with the senior girls’ 100m as no one was within half a second of her. She won in 12.50 seconds, the only competitor under 13 seconds. That made up for a slip out of the blocks in her qualifying race, although she was still the fastest by 4/10ths of a second.

“Definitely my starts need to get a lot better because that’s where I’m the most weak,” she said looking ahead to next week’s CWOSSA championship meet. “As long as I do better on that, I think I can have some pretty good races.”

Now a member of the Speed River Track and Field Club, Davis has found that an individual sport suits her temperament the best. She’s competed in basketball, soccer, volleyball and rugby, but didn’t like the feeling that her performance could let others down if it wasn’t good enough.

“I felt like I had the most potential in track and with it being an individual sport, that’s what I liked the most,” she said. “I’m just running for myself.”

Avery Dolderman of Centre Wellington won the open girls’ 1,500m steeplechase while Cole Hannam of St. James won the open boys’ 2,000m steeplechase.

Sequoia Kim of Guelph CVI had two wins in junior girls as she took the long jump and triple jump. Other winners in the class were Sydney Benninger of Lourdes (100m), Tiana LoStracco of St. James (400m), Tessa Ladhani of Guelph CVI (1,500m), Celia Markovinovic of Bishop Macdonell (80m hurdles), Alexandra Sikkema of Emmanuel Christian (high jump) and Laura Maieron of St. James (discus).

Spencer Wright of Lourdes had two wins in junior boys as he took the 400m and triple jump event. Other winners in the class were Abraham Kayeye of Lourdes (100m), Brock McKenzie of Lourdes (1,500m), Chris Bungay of Lourdes (100m hurdles), Ethan Bishop of Erin (shot put) and Qalib Ladhni of Centennial (discus).

Ryan St. Denis of Erin had two victories in midget boys as he took the wins in shot put and javelin. Other winners were Benjamin Smith of Centennial (100m), Sebastian Porcalotto of Lourdes (400m), Jackson Bull of Orangeville (1,500m), Luca Cigolea of Lourdes (100m hurdles), Bryce Sukhdeo of Ross (high jump) and Mike Bradley of Centre Wellington (long jump).

Top four in each event qualify for next week’s CWOSSA championship meet at Kincardine.